PnF: Ghosts
by Sols06
Summary: Takes Place As Teenagers - Do you believe in ghosts? Whether Phineas and Ferb do is debatable, but Phineas' emotions are put to the test when Ferb suddenly and mysteriously disappears. Little known to everyone else, Ferb's been standing next to them the entire time. T for a few sad scenes and some action.  No pairings, no slash.
1. Chapter 1

PnF Ghosts

**Disclaimer: This does, indeed, have a happy ending... :D Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

"Look at this!" Phineas said as he approached a white post in the high school hallway. The other four teenagers gathered around to look at the poster that Phineas had referenced.

Friday afternoon had left the group fatigued, and after the last class of the day the five of them had eagerly rushed to their lockers. Now Phineas had pulled them off to the side and was pointing at the printed advertisement.

Its gold lettering was placed wispily at the top; its background was a picture of a dark night, with a rickety old building in the center. At the bottom was a chunk of text, in the same font as the title above. Beneath that was the date: "Sunday Night at 8pm."

Buford groaned. "A ghost hunt? Really?"

"It's not a ghost hunt," Phineas said as he read the text. "It's a haunted house sleep-in."

"Whatever," Buford replied.

"You guys don't want to go?" Phineas asked as he looked up at the group.

Ferb leaned over to take Phineas' spot in front of the poster. "I'd go," he said, standing up after a few seconds of reading.

"I'll come, too," Isabella said while Baljeet nodded beside her.

"Oh, come on," Buford argued. "You guys don't honestly think you'd see a ghost, do you?"

"Hmm... nope, I don't think we would," Ferb replied. "But it'll be fun."

"Yeah, Buford, it's just for fun. Look, twenty people have signed up already," Phineas pestered as Buford rolled his eyes at him.

"Fine, but I BET you we don't see anything."

The end of the weekend approached faster than anticipated, and even the bulk of Sunday passed quickly. Phineas could not stop talking about the coming event, and Ferb just nodded and let Phineas continue in his growing anticipation.

By the time 7:30 rolled around, Phineas and Ferb both picked up Isabella from across the street and made their way over to the school where they would meet Baljeet and Buford. There the rented bus would transport all students who were registered for the sleep-in to the location.

"Hey, guys!" Baljeet called out when he saw Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella walking up from the parking lot. They joined the other twenty-some teenagers waiting on the curb.

"Anyone else excited?" Phineas asked cheerfully.

The three others nodded. "This is gonna be cool!"

A bus slowly pulled up until its wheels were two inches from the sidewalk. When it finally placed its brake, it let out a loud puff of air as it settled on the wheels' shocks.

A loud whistle screeched over the night air. Low murmurs of the crowd died down as everyone looked around paid attention to the source of the call.

"All right, all!" a female adult hollered out. "Are you prepared for a night of shrieks and scares, darkness and whispers, monsters and things that go bump-in-the-night?"

Everyone raised their hands in the air and cheered.

"Okay, hop on!" the leader instructed, and led the way onto the metal steps of the bus. All the students filed evenly after her, until the bus was filled with chatting, energetic teenagers.

The leader stood next to the driver and turned around to count heads. She held up her wooden clipboard before her.

"...Aaand twenty-seven," she read aloud. She then turned to the driver. "We're all here, so let's get going!"

The driver released the parking brake and the large boxy vehicle rolled its way off of the school grounds and onto the road.

The trip to the outskirts of Danville took perhaps forty minutes. The entire time the five teenagers, along with every other person around them, babbled endlessly about their upcoming experience. When the bus pulled up to a dusty industrial building on the corner of a farmland, all students were thoroughly anxious.

After the bus stopped completely, the group gathered outside in the grass to await further direction.

"We have plenty of flashlights here, but some of you may have to share," the leader called out as she pointed at a cardboard box that the driver had pulled out of the bus's storage compartment.

"Come grab one and make your way inside. There's plenty of ground to cover, so no one should get in each other's way. But stay in groups, please!"

Phineas was one of the first to run up to the box of flashlights. He secured two in his hands before running back to his friends. He held up the black metal handle of one of the flashlights to Buford.

"I'll take one, and Buford, you can have the other," Phineas offered. Buford just scowled at him.

"Yeah, you can shine it in a ghost's face when we see one," Ferb jokingly teased.

Buford crossed his arms. "I thought YOU said we weren't gonna see a ghost, Smart Stuff."

"True. But I also said we would have fun."

Buford snatched the flashlight out of Phineas' hand. "Meh, let's head inside before that group leader takes out a megaphone."

He then pushed past the congregation surrounding the flashlight box as they fought over the last ones. Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and Baljeet followed him into the darkened doorway of the creaky old building.

The lack of lighting made the scene all the more eerie, and the teenagers were glad to have had the flashlights on them. Floorboards creaked around them and the wind howled through the open walls.

The leader was right in saying that the building was large enough for all of them; after they had entered they did not see any sign of the other groups. All five of them stuck close together as they made their way through the musty hallways.

An hour into the sleep-in, after meandering up to the second floor, Baljeet had insisted they sit down for a rest.

"A ghost will not come after us if we sit down for two minutes," he had insisted. Now they were sitting on a wooden plank bench near the drafty window, with their flashlights pointing out in front of them.

There was a shuffling sound of feet coming from a far corner. Isabella jumped and squeaked a little, leaning closer to Phineas.

"What was that?" Buford said as he shone his light into the shadowed spot where the shuffle had come.

Phineas pointed his flashlight in the direction as well. "I dunno. Hello?" he called out into the thick darkness. "Is someone there?"

The sound of things being knocked over clanged to their ears. The darkness was broken when a figure staggered out of the corner as he tripped over his shoelaces.

"Phineas and Ferb!" he exclaimed as he attempted-and failed-to right himself.

"Irving? What are you doing here?" Phineas asked with his flashlight still shining on him.

"I brought along my camera!" He held up the device around his neck. "We can catch real live ghosts together!"

"I doubt you will capture LIVE ghosts on that, Irving," Baljeet pointed out.

Phineas did not notice Baljeet's comment. He addressed Irving. "Didn't you take the bus? We didn't see you."

"I didn't even KNOW about this thing 'till I saw you guys leaving the house. Albert drove me here!"

Buford nudged Baljeet with force. "Who invited the fanboy..."

Phineas shot Buford an annoyed look. He smiled at Irving and replied, "Well the leader said to stay in groups, so you can hang out with us if you want."

"Really? Hang out with you guys?"

"Sure." But then Phineas began to look left and right, before gazing out the window towards the Danville skyline.

"Hey..." he said. Phineas then pulled his lit flashlight underneath his chin, casting dark shadows over his nose and eyes. Raising his other hand, he wiggled his fingers and spoke in a spooky tone. "Whereeesss Peerrrryyyy?"

* * *

><p>"Sorry for calling you at such a late hour, Agent P, but Doofenshmirtz is up to his schemes again," the image of Major Monogram played on the large screen before the agent.<p>

Perry had taken out his little green notebook and attentively watched as his superior gave him the orders.

"Our tracks indicate that Doofenshmirtz has been spending an abnormal amount of time on the Swedish website: OndskaRUs. We are sure that he is browsing purchases much more sinister than lederhosen..." Monogram stared ominously off into the distance. Turning back to the agent, he continued. "But if it is just lederhosen... well, still go over and stop him."

He saluted and Perry returned the gesture. "Dismissed!"

Perry flew his hang glider into the unlocked glass door of Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated's roof. He released the bar of his glider at the last minute and broke his fall by rolling over the floor, landing in a fighting ready stance.

"Perry the Platypus!" Doofenshmirtz said, and not even a second later Perry found himself entrapped in a sticky cuff around his waist.

"I put GUM on it this time. Good idea, eh?" Doofenshmirtz walked slowly around the immobile Perry. "You see, just last night I was waiting for the 11:04pm bus across town. I left my watch at home and wanted to know what time it was. But JUST as I was about to check, I get interrupted by a _commercial_! A commercial, Perry the Platypus! They had put television sets inside the bus stop, who does that?"

Perry scowled at him from within his prison, and pointed with his eyes at a large brown blanket that was covering an object.

"Oh, that? Yes," Doofenshmirtz said with exaggerated anticipation. He ripped the tarp off of the machine. "May I present: The Inviso-Nega-Sound-Inator!"

Perry just rolled his eyes, but Doofenshmirtz paid no attention.

"I know what you're thinking. Doof: 'why don't you call it an inviso-quiet-inator or inviso-TVmuting-inator?' Well, Perry the Platypus, that is just what you were expecting. That's how to stay ahead. Do the un-expected."

Doofenshmirtz walked around the Inator and put his hand on it in triumph.

"Those TVs, with their obnoxious colors and flashing lights, have no purpose in a place like a bus stop. So I'm gonna turn them invisible! But then you can still hear those catchy tunes that can't leave your head, and those are as bad as a radio advertisement. That's where my nega-sound comes in. Universal mute button!"

Growling, Perry struggled in the clamp as it tugged on his fur. He angrily looked up.

"I know, you may THINK it's easier just to destroy them, but I've looked into it. _You_ blew up my Begone-Inator last month, and to fix it I'd have to go online and order parts, wait for that spinny hourglass to go away... Not to MENTION having to sign for them when they get here..."

Letting out a huff and a chatter, it was almost as if Perry said 'Get on with the rant.'

"Bah, it's just easier with a new Inator." Doofenshmirtz grabbed the handles near the machines targeting screen and pointed it out the window. The screen flashed up the time.

"Aha! It's 11pm, and at exactly 11:04, I will Inviso-nega-sound-ify EVERY BUS STOP ADVERTISEMENT IN THE TRI-STATE AREA!"

Perry squirmed while grunting, before spitting some saliva into the gummy space between himself and the braces. Losing its stickiness, the goop allowed Perry to free himself easily.

In one motion Perry had zipped through the air and slammed his webbed foot into Doofenshmirtz's jaw. He slapped the handles of the device and disrupted its targeting.

"What are you doing, Perry the Platypus. Now it's pointing at the _sky_, that's not evil," Doofenshmirtz said from his spot lying on the floor. But he took his hand and grabbed his chin in thought. "Well, I suppose invisible rain clouds might be something... but that's for another day!"

Doofenshmirtz pushed Perry out of the way and redirected the laser. "Say goodbye, public media!"

But Perry was quick. He leapt up from between Doofenshmirtz's outstretched arms and punched him clean in the face. As he fell back, the Inator's nozzle swung away and just as it hit 11:04, fired its beam across the Danville countryside.

Sparks emanated from the machine's barrel; it was clear that the shot had overloaded the device's capacity. It shook violently before dislocating its bolts and tumbling on top of Perry in a million pieces. Perry emerged from the pile as he waved his hands to get the shards of metal off.

_Oh great, _he thought to himself. _Now I'll have to spend the rest of the night getting this stuff out of my fur._

As Perry exited through the front door, he could hear Doofenshmirtz still yelling, "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It had been a little over two hours since the group of teenagers started their expedition. Although there had been nothing but creaks and cold drafts so far, no one complained that it was boring.

Buford shook his flashlight by the handle as its batteries rattled around inside and the bulb flickered. "I think my juice is dying," he said as he hit it with his palm. There was a quiet zap as the light dimmed and faded. "Yep, it's out."

"Let's all just stay close together, then," Phineas said as Buford, Ferb, Isabella, Baljeet and Irving all gathered in the beam being cast by Phineas' flashlight.

"Good thing we have two flashlights," Baljeet commented. "Or else we would be stuck in total dar-"

Phineas' flashlight flickered and died. Isabella screamed and Irving jumped out of his socks and fell onto the floor with a thump.

"Don't panic, guys!" Phineas insisted as he shook the flashlight in his hands. The circuit reconnected and the light came back on. "See? It's back, we're safe."

Everyone's breath was still slightly accelerated, but they seemed to calm when they realized the light was staying on. Phineas, however, darted the flashlight back and forth around the room.

"Hey guys, where is Ferb?"

"Right here, Phin," Ferb said after he stepped forward in front of Phineas to let his beam settle on him.

"Umm, he was here just a second ago, wasn't he?" Isabella remarked, also looking around the room.

"I said I was right here, guys," Ferb repeated.

Baljeet also followed the beam of light as it searched the room for Ferb. He then made a suggestion. "Do you think he went to... go get batteries or something?"

"I told you... Oh, _I_ get it," Ferb said with a devious smile. "You're pretending I'm a ghost. Good idea, Phineas. This'll be fun!"

Ferb went over to Phineas and reached out a finger, poking him hard and forcefully in the shoulder. "BOO!"

Phineas leapt backwards and almost threw the flashlight out of his hands, knocking into Irving in the process.

"What got into you?" Buford asked skeptically.

"I... I don't... I think something just touched me," Phineas' voice quivered. He had both hands gripped around the base of the flashlight that he held close to his chest, and was staring at the spot where Ferb was standing.

Ferb keeled over in laughter. "Hah, you're a good actor, Phineas! You should try out for the drama club."

"You mean like... a _ghost?"_ Isabella clarified as she looked frighteningly about.

Baljeet chimed in before Phineas could answer. "But it's not cold in here. It has to be cold for there to be ghosts, right?"

Ferb was still bent over. He straightened up and wiped a tear from his eye as he fought to keep his wide smile from overtaking him. "Oh, this is just too rich."

But it was then that a bitter smell caught Ferb's nose. He ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth and his eyes turned serious.

"That's not good," he said as he moved his friends to the back of his mind and slowly walked to the nearby doorways. After placing his hand on one of the doorframes, he peered inside a dark moonlit room.

There was nothing there except for a ratty, destroyed bed, and a black hose with a metal nozzle sticking up out of the floor. Above the hose, Ferb could see the ripples in the air of a gas escaping.

"Guys!" he called out, running back to the main room. "Guys guys guys guys! We can't be in here, there's a gas leak!"

But Phineas and the others just stayed near the flashlight's beam and continued to mull around the room.

"Come on, now is not the time to keep up that silly joke."

No response.

"Phineas! GET EVERYONE OUT OF THIS BUILDING RIGHT NOW!"

Phineas sniffed the air. "Does anyone else smell that?"

"Smells like... Gas!" Baljeet replied.

"What did I not just say?" Ferb said, growing slightly annoyed.

"If there's a blown socket anywhere in here, this whole place could go up in a second!" Phineas rushed to the exit doorway. "We have to make sure everyone gets out!"

Isabella was the first to follow him. Then Irving, Baljeet, and Buford. Ferb finally trudged out with an exasperated 'thank you' under his breath.

Phineas ran straight into another group of students. They all stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Phineas instructed with no hesitation, "Get out! This whole place may explode!"

Each one replied with a shocked and panicked look, then nodded fearfully and sprinted down the steps to the first floor.

Continuing along the top level, Phineas hollered throughout the darkness until he was sure everyone in the building had heard him. He did the same with the first level, scouring each musty room for any stragglers.

"That's probably everyone," Buford concluded nonchalantly.

"Wait, where is Ferb?"

Ferb just glared at him. "Phineas... don't start _that_ again."

But Isabella had shrunk in fear and hid behind Phineas. She was pointing at a low spot in the wall. "L-l-look at that," she whispered.

The brown wooden wall outlet had its covering hanging off by one screw. Beneath the plate was a loose wire, letting off a spark every few seconds.

"PhiiineeEAAS..." Baljeet breathed, his voice growing in agitation with each syllable. "When that gas cloud reaches here, there will be fire. A LOT of fire. I vote we leave now."

"Yep, I'm with the nerd," Buford said as he picked up Phineas by the elbows and ferried him out of the open door.

"But... but Ferb-!"

"Phineas!" Ferb said as he ran alongside Buford and the rest of the group. "This isn't funny."

The otherwise quiet night was disturbed by the mass of teenagers gathered around the parked bus. The air was filled with murmurs of questions about why they had all been shuffled out in a hurry. The leader and the bus driver also stood nearby with curious and confused looks.

Irving, who had been remarkably quiet up until now, hopped over to join the crowd. "I... think I'm gonna go over here," he said a little high-pitched.

Buford groaned at Irving, then placed Phineas in the grass where they had stopped a good distance away. But as soon as his feet touched the ground again, Phineas had turned around and started to make his way back toward the building.

"Don't, Phineas," Ferb disallowed, reaching down to grab Phineas' wrist and stop him from moving. Immediately Phineas turned around and looked down at his arm.

Any reaction Phineas could have made was instantly interrupted by a loud _fwoom_. They all felt the massive increase in heat as the night was lit up with a bright flash.

Phineas shot his terror-filled eyes back to the building as he watched the flames bellow out of all open windows. The flickering orange fire reflected in his pupils as he screamed, "FERB!"

Phineas attempted to run towards the source of the flames, but Ferb refused to release him and only tightened his grip on his wrist. "You are NOT going back in there!"

Attempting to yank his arm away with no progress, Phineas spun around and looked at the end of his hand with alarm and shock.

"H-h-help!" he yelled at Isabella and Baljeet standing around him. "S-s-something's got me!"

"What's got you?" Baljeet asked quickly as he stared at Phineas' arm.

"I have no idea! Just GET IT OFF!"

Phineas pulled with all his might to break free from Ferb's grasp, but Ferb did not let up.

"It's... Me...!" he panted at him, but Isabella had run over and grabbed a nearby plank that had been strewn along the ground. She had lifted it up and was now flinging it in the general direction of the air above Phineas' arm.

"Let him go!" she yelled. The wood came swinging blindly and collided sideways with Ferb's face and a thick thump. Surprised, Ferb was knocked away and reacted by letting go of Phineas and falling on his back into a patch of dirt.

Phineas, who had been pulling equally as hard in the opposite direction, was also flung off his feet and landed on the grass. Baljeet crouched over him while Isabella dropped her weapon.

Tipping his head up, Phineas looked around at the chaotic mass of teenagers and at the surrounding grassy hills. "Does anyone see Ferb anywhere?"

"He's probably already on the bus. Are you okay, Phineas?" Isabella consoled.

"Yeah, I guess," he answered and pulled himself up.

"Quickly!" the female leader's voice screamed over the roar of the flames and the crowd's mumblings. "Everyone on board!"

Phineas, Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford followed her order and made their way to the group.

Ferb, however, groaned as he rubbed his head and pulled himself to a sitting position. He brushed the dust off of himself and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, discovering that the right side of his lip was slightly bleeding. He looked over and saw that most of the group had taken their seats on the bus.

"Wait up!" he called out as he hopped back on his feet and ran over to the parked vehicle. He, too, ascended the metal stairs.

Walking down the aisle, Ferb took an empty spot beside one of the other teenagers. Isabella was sitting in the one beside Phineas.

The group leader was frantically looking over her clipboard and darting endlessly between the paper and the busful of students.

"Twenty-five, twenty-six," she was mouthing restlessly. Then she sighed a great sigh of relief as her finger fell on the last student in the front row. "Twenty-seven. Good, everyone is here."

"See, Phineas?" Isabella reassured him. "No one is missing. So we know he's on this bus somewhere."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Fire trucks had come and extinguished the inferno, and after the paramedics gave the group permission, the bus had returned all students to their homes. After an excitement-filled night, they were glad to get a good night's rest.

Ferb reached out and stretched his arms high above his head. "Aaaaa," he yawned. "Morning."

Phineas was still sleeping in his bed. Ferb looked over at him and commented, "It's 7am."

Rolling under his covers, Phineas reached out from under his bedspread and grabbed the clock to read it. He huffed tiredly. "I guess I'd better get up."

After getting out of his bed and leaving it rather messy, Ferb started to get dressed for school. But when he looked over at Phineas, Ferb saw that he was keeping his eyes down, and he did not have his usual morning smile on his face.

"Are you mad about something?" Ferb asked, but Phineas ignored him.

"It's not about last night, is it?" Ferb prompted. When there was no answer, he continued. "Maybe I shouldn't have yelled. But you have to admit you were being a liiiiitle bit stubborn."

But Phineas just kept pushing his arms through his T-shirt without an utterance.

"Listen, Phin. I'm really sorry if I hurt your wrist. But I... I just didn't want you to hurt yourself by going back into that building for no reason."

A throbbing pain struck Ferb in the head, which caused him to stop. He moved his hand up and felt the tender area. His right eye was warm to the touch, and clearly felt puffy and swollen. He held back a little smile.

"But I think actually _thwacking me with a two by four _WAS kind of uncalled for."

Phineas threw his school pack over his back and stomped out the bedroom door.

"Come on, I said I was sorry!" Ferb called out after him. He breathed out slowly and mumbled to himself, "he can't stay mad forever."

Ferb had finished dressing as well, and also grabbed his school knapsack. He ran down the stairs and called out, "Bye, Mom!"

Their mom was busy filing paperwork and did not look up. "Bye, hun!"

"See you after school," Phineas said as he pushed the door open.

For the most part, Ferb stayed quiet on the way to school. He figured he would let Phineas blow off his steam on his own time.

They reached the glass doors of the high school building, and Ferb moved up to pull it open in front of both of them. He motioned for Phineas to go ahead of him, but Phineas had stopped walking altogether and just stood in place. After a few seconds, he dipped his head back down and pushed through the doorway, without a glance elsewhere.

Phineas found Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford all waiting by their lockers. He and Ferb approached silently.

"Hey, Phineas," Baljeet said as he pulled out his books.

Isabella did the same. She then struck up a conversation. "So, where's Ferb?"

Ferb just stopped in mid-motion of taking off his bag and stared at her.

Phineas shuffled his feet and stared into his locker. "He, uh... he never came home last night."

"What?" everyone, Ferb included, responded with bewilderment.

"What do you mean by that?" Baljeet asked.

"I mean... last night we all got off the bus and it pulled away, and Ferb wasn't there. And when I woke up this morning he still wasn't back."

"What are you even talking about?" Ferb questioned. "I'm standing _right next to you_."

"He didn't? Did he call you?" Isabella suggested.

"Is it suddenly April First and I didn't notice?" Ferb looked at the date on his watch. "Phineas, did you make a new holiday again?"

"I'm gonna be late for class," Phineas said quietly as he tucked his books under his arm and pushed down the hall.

Ferb quickly gathered up his things and chased after him. "Phin, physics isn't for another ten minutes."

But Phineas just kept walking until he reached the classroom. There, he set his books on the desk and slid without a word into his seat. Ferb stopped in front of him and wanted to say something, but decided against it and only took his place beside him.

"Quiz today," Professor Dreyman announced once class time had begun. "Look over your notes one last time."

He sat down at his desk and picked up a pen that was placed beside his role sheet. "Sarah Alarid..." he began to read.

Ferb grabbed his notebook from his bag and opened it to his physics section. "I'm trying to remember the exponent for Avogadro's number..." he mentioned as he scanned over his pages.

The professor continued his morning routine. "Randy Droffers..."

Leaning to Phineas, Ferb found the page in his notes. "It's 23, right?"

"Ferb Fletcher..."

"Present," he tossed his reply.

Professor Dreyman did not move, but peered over his reading glasses at the class. "Fletcher?"

"I'm here, Professor," Ferb said a little louder, raising his hand.

The professor set down his pen. "Phineas, where is your brother?"

"Professor Dreyman!" Ferb exclaimed. _"You're_ in on it, too?"

But Phineas had not even pulled out his study sheet. "I don't think he's coming today, sir."

"Hmm," the professor hummed as he marked something on his role sheet. "Well, be sure to bring him his homework, then."

Ferb slid over to whisper in Phineas' ear. "I know I'm not going for the Perfect Attendance Award or anything, but does he really have to mark me absent just for some crazy joke you thought up?"

Professor Dreyman pulled a stack of papers from his folder bag and tapped it on the desk to align them. "Holly, please come help me pass these out, if you would."

"Sure, Professor," Holly replied as she got up from her seat. He handed her the stack and she went on her way to hand them to each student.

Going down the front row, she passed one to Phineas, who took it and put his name at the top. Ferb already had his pencil laying in his hand as he reached up to accept his copy, but Holly turned past him and passed one to the student on his right.

"Um, Holly?" he drew attention to himself. "May I please have one?"

But Holly had already turned and was going along the second row. Ferb shrugged it off, and reached over his desk to grab a paper for himself from the pile of extra copies that the professor had made available. He wrote his name on the given line and began to fill it out as best he could.

Next period was Study Hall, which they shared with their other friends. However, both Phineas and Ferb had finished their work due for the week, so they only went there to visit with the others.

Isabella was frantically studying for an art test, and Baljeet read over a thick book with five more stacked beside him. Buford had his pencil stuck in the spine of his textbook but was leaning back in his chair, playing with a yo-yo. Phineas had his eyes in a book but it didn't really look like he was reading it.

"I'll... be back," Phineas said, closing the book and setting it on the table. He pushed off his chair and went towards the library exit.

"I don't think he's okay," Isabella inferred as she watched him walk away. "Someone should go check on him."

Baljeet and Ferb both stood up at the same time. Baljeet was the first to speak. "I have to go to the bathroom anyway."

Ferb found the nearest men's bathroom before Baljeet did. He pushed his way into the door and found Phineas standing near the sink with his back hunched.

"Hey, Phineas," he said as he walked over to his brother's left. He stopped with his hands on the counter and looked down into the sink that Phineas was staring at. "Why are you doing this?"

The door opened again. Phineas looked up at it in curiosity. "...Hey Baljeet."

Baljeet slowly closed the door and moved over to Phineas' right.

"I'm glad you came. I was getting a bit lonely," Phineas said as he glanced at the mirror.

Ferb followed his tired gaze and saw the backwards reflection of Phineas' slouched figure, along with all the pairs of sinks against the mirror's base. He saw Baljeet on Phineas' right; both he and his reflected image were looking at his friend with concern.

But to Phineas' left, Ferb glanced directly into the mirror and saw _absolutely no one._

Ferb took his hands off the countertop and found himself backing away from the mirror. He held his eyes fixed on the spot where he kept expecting to see himself, but there was no movement.

He lost coordination of his feet and fell backwards into a stall, hitting the stall door against the plastic wall with a sharp bang.

Phineas and Baljeet spun around. "What was _THAT!"_ Phineas responded.

They both wandered over to the stall where Ferb was sitting with his feet lying awkwardly around him. He had one elbow on the toilet seat and with his other hand he gripped the hinge of the door. His chest moved up and down as he panted heavily and stared up in disbelief at the two looking down on him.

Baljeet and Phineas both seemed to be focused on the floor beneath Ferb as they investigated the source of the noise.

"That was weird..." Baljeet mentioned as Phineas peered upside-down under the stall.

"You... you guys seriously can't see me?" Ferb said between loud breaths as he moved to make room for Phineas' head.

"I'll say," Phineas replied. "I guess a draft came by."

"Loud draft," Baljeet said as he looked at his watch. "Oh! The period's almost over!

"I still have two more chapters to read," Baljeet was saying as he ran out the door.

Phineas finished his investigation and stood up as well. With a dismissive shrug, he too exited the bathroom.

Ferb tried to recover by shaking some air to his brain, and attempted to stand up.

"W-w-wait, Phineas," he stuttered on unstable legs. "Please don't leave me here."

Going out to the hall, he spotted Phineas and Baljeet heading down toward the library.

"I just want you to talk to me, Phineas," Ferb said, reaching forward as he approached and placing a hand on Phineas' shoulder.

Phineas froze, and Baljeet kept walking a few paces before turning around to see what was the matter. Phineas jumped a little and recoiled, pulling his arm closer to his chest. He was staring in surprise at the spot where Ferb's hand had come from.

"What's wrong?" Baljeet asked at the sudden interruption.

Phineas' eyes just raced through the air around the spot for a moment. He then faced back to Baljeet, but not before doing an uneasy double-take behind him. "...Nothing."

Ferb realized that he could not move his legs as he watched his brother departing, without a notice to Ferb's presence. He found himself sitting down in the middle of the empty tile hallway; his mind was far too confused and riddled with thoughts to keep him standing. He watched the two of them turn the corner, and was left alone in the open corridor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Phineas was retuning his books to his locker after math class. Ferb hadn't bothered to attend, and now just leaned next to Phineas with his back against an adjacent locker, his arms crossed, and his eyes closed. Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet were also returning from their respective classes.

"I... I don't know, guys," Phineas was saying. "I'm worried about him."

Isabella had taken out her literature book. "What do your parents think?"

"Well, last night I got back at about 12:30. Mom had stayed up to wait for me," Phineas explained, reaching up to rub his ear. "When she asked where Ferb was, well, I told her he went on that overnight field trip with Mr. Schneider's class..."

All three of them gasped. "Phineas, you _lied_ to your parents? Ferb's not even IN that science class."

"I know... I just didn't want them to be concerned. And..." Phineas looked down at his thumbs as if he was trying to distract himself. "...I honestly thought he would be back by now."

"What I don't get," Ferb commented without lifting an eyelid, "is why none of you notice it's me standing beside you."

"Some really _weird_ things have been happening too..." Phineas said in a low voice, looking uneasily to the left and right and leaning into the center of the circle. "Like, when I woke up this morning I could have sworn Ferb's bed was made. But by the time I was finished getting dressed, I thought the sheets had been moved."

"You were tired and imagined it," Baljeet put out. "Or Perry moved it."

Phineas just kept taking. "And when I got to school today, the door opened by itself. Right in front of me. And I don't mean that funny automatic handicap door, it was the one you actually have to _pull_ open to get it to move."

"A draft?"

"We can't blame everything on a draft, Baljeet." Phineas then shot his gaze down to almost the exact spot where Ferb's feet were standing. Cautiously, Phineas looked back up at the group. "And every time I walk, I… I keep thinking I'm hearing another set of footsteps behind me, but I must be going crazy."

Buford scoffed. "Maybe it's Ferb. And he's haunting you."

"Hah, Buford," Ferb chuckled. "You can be smarter than we think when you're being sarcastic."

"That's silly, Buford," Baljeet said. "If Ferb were haunting Phineas, then Ferb would have to be a ghost. And if Ferb's a ghost, then that would mean he's... oh."

"Don't say it. Just please, don't say it," Phineas moaned.

"Um, heh," Ferb said with concern. He had opened his eyes to look at his brother and uncrossed his arms a bit. "I'm not dead, I think I would know that much for certain."

But Isabella was clutching her schoolbooks across her chest tightly. She looked around at her friends timidly. "I mean... we haven't seen him since last night. Do you think that maybe... he never got out?"

"Guys... I'm not dead..."

"Of _course_ he got out, Isabella," Phineas retorted. "Remember? The group leader counted us all in the bus, and everyone was there. We wouldn't have driven away if we had left someone."

"Thank you, Phineas," Ferb said as he nodded at him.

Everyone calmly went back to arranging their lockers, when Buford suddenly exclaimed, "That _dork_, Irving!"

"Yeah? What about him?" Phineas said rather monotone.

"That's right!" Baljeet clued in. "Irving wasn't on the roster, remember? So that means there should have been twenty-_eight_ students on the bus, not twenty-seven. Someone WAS missing that night."

"I. Am. Right. Here."

"Baljeet..." Isabella whispered almost silently. "Are you saying that it's possible that Ferb is-"

"I am NOT dead!"

"No! It is _not_ possible," Phineas yelled rather irritably. "Ferb is perfectly fine, and he probably just got sidetracked on the way home with a project or something. Maybe it's a surprise."

"Has he called you, though?"

"No," Phineas said, pulling out his cell phone. "But that doesn't stop me from calling him."

Ferb felt his cell phone vibrate lightly in his pocket, and heard its muffled chime playing. He reached down and took it out, pressing the accept button without a moment's pause. "Hello?"

"Hello?" Phineas' voice said on the other end.

"Phineas! Can you hear me?" Ferb replied, watching Phineas' face for any kind of reaction.

A couple seconds passed by. "Hello?" Phineas repeated. He waited a few moments before taking the phone off of his ear and looking dejectedly down at the receiver.

Baljeet peered over his shoulder. "No answer?"

"No, it was picked up..." Phineas relayed. "But there's no sound."

"Static?" Isabella questioned.

"No I mean I can hear the ambience of a room or something..." He pressed it back up to his ear. "There's just nobody talking."

"Phineas, I AM talking," Ferb said into his end of the phone line. "Why can't you hear me?"

* * *

><p>"Students of Danville High had a shock of a lifetime on Sunday night, when an out-of-school event went horribly awry..."<p>

Ferb lay with his legs curled up sideways on the couch, and the TV remote sitting by his feet. He had his arm around a pillow as the television's light flickered the nightly news over the room.

"...explosion caused by a leaking gas line ignited in mere seconds."

_There's no way I got stuck in that,_ Ferb thought, unable to pull his eyes from the screen.

"... thought by locals to be haunted, was the location of the High School's annual ghost hunt."

_I ran out alongside everyone else._

"Fortunately all twenty-seven students were safely outside the building before the blast occurred."

_I think I would have remembered something like _dying_..._

"...flames reaching over two thousand degrees..."

_I'm not dead. I think I would know if I was dead._

"…caused by even the smallest electrical spark…"

_Wouldn't I?_

The room was enshrouded in darkness as the TV turned black with a quiet click. Ferb blinked to the lighting, and saw Phineas standing at the foot of the couch holding the remote.

"I'm turning off the TV, Mom. I… don't really feel like watching the news right now," Phineas was saying as he bent down to set the remote on the coffee table.

"That's okay, sweetie. I wasn't watching it," she replied.

"Did Dad turn it on?"

"He doesn't get home from work for another hour."

Phineas looked back at the television with a puzzled face, and gradually moved forward to investigate it.

"Phin…" Ferb said as he scrunched the pillow closer. "It would make me feel a whole lot better if you would just look at me. Even for two seconds."

But Phineas, finding nothing of interest near the television set, just turned and headed up the stairs.

Ferb thought about grabbing the remote again, but he realized that he didn't even know why he had turned it on in the first place. Maybe he wanted reassurance that there were no casualties. Maybe he wanted to see that none of it was real at all. Maybe, even, he wanted to see if people were looking for him.

Deciding it was lonely enough on the couch, Ferb stood up and pushed his pillow aside. Heading for the stairs, he spotted Perry hanging out on a middle step.

"Oh, there you are, Perry," he said as he came and sat down, slouching on the few steps beside the platypus. Ferb rested his chin on his elbow and stared at him. "Can you see-?"

Ferb stopped himself from talking; the word "_ghosts_" had entered his mind, and he pushed it out with a wince of denial. He dipped his head between his arms, exhaled, and stared back at his pet. "Can you see me?"

Perry just continued to gaze blankly into the wall. He did not even chatter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Phineas had retreated to the sanctuary of his room, and was trying to find some peace there. However, as he sat on his bed with his arms hugging his knees, Phineas could only think of one thing.

_Buford is wrong,_ he kept telling himself. _Drafts can cause all kinds of weird stuff people think is paranormal._

Phineas whimpered a little once he realized that he had been staring at Ferb's bed for the past ten minutes. _There's no proof that he was still in that building. He will come walking in the front door any minute._

The bedroom door creaked on its hinges. The floorboards squeaked quietly a few times, and-what Phineas was sure was his imagination-made them sound like footsteps. The eerie moan of mattress springs came from the purple bedspread across the room.

Phineas shut his eyes and slowly waved his head back and forth, trying to ignore anything outside of the light red glow beneath his lids. The mattress springs popped again.

"F-F-Ferb…." Phineas whined in a stutter. "I know that _can't _be you…."

The room stayed silent. "Because if that's you… that means you're… you're…."

Squeaking of mattress springs broke the stale air, but this time it came from Phineas' bed. When Phineas felt the mattress shift under weight, he jumped away from it to sit on his pillow.

"It's not you, it's not you, it _can't _be you…." he kept repeating.

"It is, Phineas, but I don't want you to think like that," Ferb begged from his place on the bed.

"You're gone… gone… and I'll never see you again."

"I'm here, Phineas, I haven't went anywhere. Please stop saying that."

Phineas just hummed softly and kept tossing his head back and forth. Ferb reached up to brush his fingers against Phineas' ankle. "I just want you to know that I am still here."

Phineas' eyes grew into a mixture of overwhelming fear and total devastation when he felt the touch of Ferb's hand. "_Noooo_," he groaned, leaping off of the bed at an obscure angle to avoid where he thought Ferb might be sitting.

"I'm not gone, Phineas!" Ferb called after him as Phineas ran out of the room. "I'm okay!"

Left in the quiet again, Ferb stood up. He held out the hand that had touched the edge of Phineas' pants and looked down at it like it was some kind of horrible creation. Peering out the doorway, Ferb wondered if the last thing he had shouted to his brother was entirely true.

* * *

><p>"Hi, Phineas," Isabella greeted as he and Ferb entered the high school doors. She was standing with her books in hand, with Baljeet and Buford beside her. "Any sign of Ferb?"<p>

"There was... sign of him," Phineas replied without looking up.

"Really? Did he come back?" Baljeet pushed. "Is he staying home sick today?"

"No, he didn't come back," Phineas sighed. "And I'm starting to think... he won't be coming."

"Phineas," Ferb whispered. "Phineas, please."

"You're not talking about… Sunday night... are you?" Isabella questioned quietly and cautiously.

It was a long while before Phineas spoke again. "Yeah..." he replied in a tone that left nothing unsaid. "...at least now I know. I don't have to keep wondering."

"Stop... Phineas, stop..." Ferb's eyes began to well up as he fought away tears. "I'll find a way, I'll come back."

"I just... I just can't believe that I'm never gonna see him again..." Phineas dipped his head down as his cheeks grew wet.

"Don't cry for me, Phineas," Ferb pleaded. "The truth is I've never left you."

Ferb longed to hug his brother around the shoulders, but he paused after lifting his arm. Images of the sheer terror he had seen in Phineas' eyes the previous night had entered his mind, and now he only kept his arm floating two inches from Phineas' back, dreading the reaction that might come if he moved any closer.

"We... we... we were gonna build that space-travel fighter jet next week," Phineas sniffed as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

Isabella moved forward and hugged Phineas around the waist. He almost backed up at the awkwardness of it, but he was not in the mood to resist.

"H-h-h-he was only sixteen," Phineas wailed softly as he fought gasps. "An... an we had so much left to _do_ together..."

Buford and Baljeet just stood nearby in silence. No one could think of anything to tell him.

Ferb withdrew his hand back and clenched his fist, blinking wet eyes of his own as he screwed up his face in a wince and a frown.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Phineas..." he whispered with his chin pressed up against his chest. "I don't know why I even came to school today... I can't be here..."

He lowered his hand and crossed his fingers in front of himself, looking down at them. With a last sorrowful glance at Phineas and his other friends, Ferb turned around and pushed through the school's double glass doors.

* * *

><p>Phineas sat in his cramped school desk as he fixated on the blank gray surface. His physics textbook sat untouched in his backpack.<p>

"I had hoped you're scores would have increased from last week," Professor Dreyman was saying to his students as he walked along the line of seats, passing out the papers.

A graded quiz was placed in front of Phineas, and he looked up at his teacher who was standing before him.

"A '_B'_. I would have expected more from you, Phineas."

"I wasn't really... up for studying, sir."

"Hmm," he replied, taking the next paper from the top of the stack on his arm. He looked over it thoughtfully. "But, I see your brother had no trouble with it. I trust you got him his homework?"

"Um, no. I haven't seen him since Sunday..." Phineas looked up in curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Yesterday's quiz. He completely aced it." Professor Dreyman turned around the paper in his hand and showed it to Phineas. "Isn't this his?"

Phineas snatched it and scanned it over quickly. He immediately recognized Ferb's signature at the top of the page, along with Monday's date. All along the length of the quiz were questions filled out in Ferb's handwriting, and in the corner of the paper was a large red 'A+' circled in pen.

"Yeah... That's his..." Phineas said in disbelief, continuing to read and re-read the whole page. Looking up again, he asked, "Did... did you give it to him early? Like before Sunday?"

"How could I? I didn't print them out until Monday morning." The professor made a motion to signify that he needed to continue with class. "Well next time you see him, tell him to come meet with me."

"Uh, yeah, I'll tell him that..." Phineas said, not taking his eyes off the page for even a second.

* * *

><p>"LOOK at this," Phineas said as he waved the paper in Baljeet and Buford's faces in the hallway after class.<p>

"So?" Buford said without enthusiasm. "You aced a physics test. How is that new?"

"This isn't MY physics test," Phineas said, holding the paper still so that they both could read it. "Check out the name."

Isabella had showed up from her class across the school grounds. "What are we looking at?" she asked at Phineas' eagerness.

"_Ferb_ aced _Monday's_ physics test," he replied with emphasis as everyone gathered around, widening their eyes.

"That is... interesting," Baljeet said with suspicion.

"He's okay!" Phineas pulled back the paper and folded it into his bag. "I don't know where he is, but somewhere he's okay!"

But Buford still looked doubtful. "That doesn't explain the fact that he's been missing for almost two days. And the doors opening? What about you said your TV turned on by itself? Ferb's been _haunting_ you."

"Buford! You are NOT helping!" Isabella silenced him when she saw Phineas lose his smile. "I thought _you_ said you didn't believe in ghosts."

Buford groaned. "I'm just pointing out the facts."

"So wait, Phineas," Baljeet said with thought. "You're theory is that Ferb escaped the explosion, didn't get on the bus, never called anyone, and randomly showed up for a physics quiz that no one saw him take, then left again?"

"Baljeet, quit being so logical for two seconds!" Isabella fumed. "_Neither_ of you are helping!"

"Well... I guess it does sound a little far-fetched when you analyze it..."

"Don't worry, Phineas," Isabella said with a consoling voice. "It's definitely his handwriting."

Phineas had slid the paper back out from his bag and was staring at it with a tinge of belief. "Yeah, but how it GOT ON there is what I want to know."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Ferb lay on his back sprawled out on the living room floor, his arms and legs completely straightened out. But he had not moved at all in the past hour, and only stared up with a blank expression at the beige ceiling. He was listening to the clock tick, and after counting it multiple times had discovered that it was off by a second.

Perry lay beside him in much the same position, and also had the same expression as he stared at the wall. He, too, was sprawled out, but on his stomach instead.

"I'm bored," Ferb told Perry, who made no notion of responding, or even hearing him. Ferb reached up and scratched his own head; it was the first time he had moved his arm in over twenty minutes, and it had started to go numb.

"What am I supposed to _do_ all day?" he presented the question to Perry, who did not acknowledge it.

A key clicking in the front door caused both Ferb and Perry to look up with interest. It waved open and in stepped Phineas, with his school pack over his back and holding a white sheet of paper.

"Heya, Phineas," Ferb greeted, trying to read the look in Phineas' eyes. He had them fixated on the page with an ever-so-slight glint of hopefulness. The expression was short, however, and vanished almost instantly. He scowled and crumpled it in a rough ball, tossing it to the corner of the living room.

"Phineas?" Ferb said, raising his head a little higher off the floor. Phineas had walked around the coffee table, still holding a disappointed frown, and snatched up Perry. He then stomped up the wooden stairs without a word.

Ferb sat up a bit and tossed a glance at the unmoving crumpled paper ball where it rested near the end of the carpet. He thought about taking a look at it, but decided that it was irrelevant anyway. Instead, he got up off the floor and snuck up the steps as quietly as he could.

Reaching the top, Ferb peered into his and Phineas' room, careful not to make and sudden sounds. He entered slowly through the open door.

Phineas had settled down on Ferb's bed without removing the blankets. He was not sleeping, but rather lying with open eyes that were focused nowhere in particular, as he held Perry between his arms.

"Oh, Perry…" Phineas wailed. "Where on earth _is_ he?"

Ferb decided it was best not to make his presence known, lest he only add to the sorrow Phineas was already feeling. He just weaved his way to the side of the room and sat down as carefully as he could in the black swivel chair near his desk.

"The science class is supposed to get back tomorrow…" Phineas clutched Perry closer. "How am I ever gonna tell Mom and Dad?"

Phineas sobbed into the blue fur of his platypus, who struggled lightly but stopped complaining when Phineas gripped him harder. "I… don't know… what to do…."

Phineas' voice grew softer until he stopped talking. His eyes had closed and the arm he held overtop Perry lowered limply. Ferb leaned forward slightly; it looked as though Phineas was trying to secure even a few seconds of rest.

Placing his elbows on his knees, Ferb linked his fingers and observed his brother. Though Phineas already thought he was alone, Ferb would not leave him. He would not leave him truly alone.

Only a minute into the silence, Phineas winced harshly as a tear formed on his cheek, and he snuggled Perry closer.

Ferb pushed back and shut his eyes tightly. He couldn't bear seeing Phineas in so much pain, and he was powerless to do anything to settle it. Quickly he sought a distraction from the present, and leaned towards the desk to snatch up his laptop and place it on his legs while he propped his feet up on a footstool. He had no intention of doing anything with it, and probably would just sit and stare at the brightly lit screen.

After he had unlatched the lid, the screen flashed its startup colors and entered the desktop of his user. In the corner of the taskbar flashed his IM chat auto-logging in.

Across the room Phineas' laptop, open and charging, let out a little _blooeeep._

Only a moment passed until Phineas, arising from his half-sleep, raised his head with attentiveness. Perry chattered as Phineas lifted him up and set him on the bed, while he got up to walk cautiously towards the computer. He squinted at the white screen that held a small message.

_**Turbo_Ferbo **has come online._

Ferb then realized that he had been sitting, unmoving, merely watching as Phineas read the message. Immediately he jumped to the touchpad and clicked a little box in the corner of the window. Phineas' laptop pinged again, with a little 'accept' button flashing welcomingly.

_**Turbo _Ferbo** wants to chat with you._

Not wasting a second, Phineas grabbed the desk chair and planted himself on it. He clicked on the computer mouse with force and began frantically typing.

_**CarpeDiem57 says**__: _is that you?

Ferb waited with his hands lightly resting on the keyboard for a few seconds, which no doubt felt like a few hours for Phineas. Ferb let out a deep breath, and pushed into the keys. He typed only five letters, but took his time to carefully form the message.

_**Turbo _Ferbo says: **_It's me.

Literally half a second went by before Phineas had typed out his reply.

_**CarpeDiem57 says:**_ oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm talking to you right now! You're okay!

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_I… don't know if I would say THAT.

_**CarpeDiem57 says: **_… why not? Ferb, are you okay or aren't you?

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_Well, I FEEL perfectly fine… and I've checked my pulse several times…

_**CarpeDiem57 says: **_ … Ferb, you're scaring me. Why wouldn't you have a pulse?

Ferb watched his computer screen for a moment, before finally hitting the enter key and typing one line at a time, each with firm strokes of his fingers. He waited only a few seconds between each message.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_No one can see me.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_No one can hear me.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_I don't even have a reflection in the mirror.

Phineas stopped whatever it was that he was typing, and leaned back into his chair. He placed his hands on his mouth and stared at the screen. A couple eerily quiet seconds passed before Phineas slowly moved his hands to the table and gently began to type with weighted, deliberate movements.

_**CarpeDiem57 says:**_ Where are you ? … You're not lying in some ditch somewhere all banged up, are you?

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ No, in that respect I'm fine.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ In fact… I'm sitting not four feet from you.

Upon reading the last response, Phineas drew his head away from the screen and peered over his shoulder. He looked all up and down the room, as if he expected to see Ferb hiding on a bookshelf or leaning in from a window. He whispered softly, "That's not possible…."

He then turned around quickly when he heard his computer make a sound.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ Apparently it IS possible, because it's true.

_**CarpeDiem57 says:**_ How did you DO that?

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ Do what? You mean answer your question without you typing it?

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ I told you, I'm sitting in the computer chair next to my desk.

Phineas reached over and unplugged the power cord on his laptop, gently setting it on his lap. He then turned his chair around to look at the other side of the room. Lifting his left finger weakly, he hesitantly pointed at the empty black swivel chair that sat unoccupied in the untouched daylight. "Y-y-you're right there?"

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ Yep.

"Then why can't I see your laptop?"

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ I haven't the foggiest. Why can't you see ME?

Phineas remained quiet for a minute. He did not move in his seat, and just sat with his feet resting beneath him on the seat's legs, constantly swapping his glance from his computer screen to the empty leather chair as if he was in the middle of an internal debate. He bit onto his lip, before lowering his feet to the floor as he started to push his rolling chair towards Ferb's side of the room. When he was halfway across, he slid his right hand off the bottom of his laptop and nervously placed it out in front of him. He then arrived within a foot of the stationary computer chair.

Holding up one wobbly finger, Phineas edged towards the blank air above the chair. He closed one eye and kept the other only slightly cracked, fearful he may suddenly feel a rush of coldness.

But then his finger stopped. It crumpled lightly as it came into contact with what felt like a woven texture. Phineas opened both eyes, and saw nothing there.

He drew his hand back quickly, looking up and down at the unoccupied air with both recoil and awe. Shaking his head to clear it, Phineas tossed his computer onto the edge of the nearby desk and threw both hands forward. His palms collided with the solid object as he attempted to feel it out. He could envision the base of a shoulder, before he gripped his hands in a circle around an upper arm, running his hands over the elbow, and reaching down to the fingers. There, he grasped a pinkie in one fist and an index finger in the other, and began moving them about in a variety of directions. By accident, he bent them backwards until they almost reached the back of the hand.

Suddenly Phineas' grip was wrenched away from him as the object jumped out of his hands, and he lost touch of it. Soon, his computer beeped.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ Ow! That hurt :(

Phineas' eyebrows moved up until they almost disappeared. His mouth rested slightly agape as he exclaimed, "Oh my _gosh,_ Ferb! I FOUND you!"

Ferb just sat in his chair as he rubbed the base of his knuckles with his free hand. Though he knew Phineas' would not react to it, he gave him a playfully annoyed glare.

But Phineas' momentary excitement slowly faded off his face. He spoke into the air with a wavering voice. "But… I mean, are you…."

Phineas looked over to his computer screen, before turning back with innocently worried eyes. "…_DO_ you have a pulse?"

Ferb began to type something into his keyboard, but was interrupted by Phineas suddenly moving closer and reaching out his hands. "Hang on, I'm just going to check," he said as he clambered over.

Phineas' fingers bumped into Ferb's shoulder, then his ear, as Phineas fumbled about. Finally he found his neck and, searching up for his chin, managed to gently press two fingers underneath.

A few moments went by as Phineas counted, and Ferb decided to go with it and hold perfectly still. His brother then jumped up and cried out, "You _totally_ do!"

Ferb smiled at him and grabbed his computer.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ I told you I checked it, I never said I didn't have one!

Sitting back down into his seat, Phineas kept his hand raised as if he was fighting a strong urge to keep poking Ferb in the stomach. "But… but, Ferb… I still can't see you."

Ferb scrunched up his lower lip as he pondered Phineas' words. Though he was glad the day was finally taking a turn for the better, the reasoning behind his brother's sad tone was unsettling. He knew the sneaking truth that Phineas implied. Ferb tried to convince himself otherwise by typing into his keyboard.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ But ghosts are… vaporous…

Looking at the computer, Phineas began to move his head up and down in a delayed nod.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says: **_ And ghosts can't have a full conversation on IM… right… ?

"No… no, they can't," Phineas said, moving his hand slowly towards his back pocket. Drawing out his cell phone, he then began to frenetically type into a message that he had addressed to their three other friends. Phineas was focused on the tiny screen so intently, Ferb noticed something about the room that Phineas didn't.

After a little _ping_ on the computer, Phineas glanced up at the screen to read the short message that had popped up.

_**Turbo_Ferbo says:**_ Hey, where's Perry?

Phineas smirked. "Funny," he said, finishing his text and firmly pressing the 'send' button with his thumb.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Perry was digging with both hands in a shrapnel-filled tub that rested in the corner of his lair. There was a reason he was searching through the trash compactor; he was certain that what he sought was somewhere in the bottom of the heap, and now he sifted earnestly around in the bits and pieces of discarded metal.

Although Perry _had_ wondered where Ferb had disappeared to during the past two days, he had believed Phineas' Science Field Trip story just like the rest of the family. Now, however, he had seen the uncertain worry in his owner's eyes, and knew something was not quite right.

Like Phineas, Perry, too, had noticed the strange happenings throughout the house: abnormal creakings, doors swaying with no breeze, and of course the television set powering up with no one around. But after Phineas' distressing episode upstairs, Perry had put two and two together and had a sneaking suspicion as to the cause of this dilemma.

His hand grasped onto a small cylindrical object near the bottom of the tub. Growling in satisfaction, he pulled it up to the surface to examine it. The little syringe-like container was slightly smudged from the inside of the compactor, but the faintly glowing orange capsule in the center was still undamaged. Perry scowled at the thing as he remembered that this one was particularly difficult to pull out of his fur.

Perry turned and walked towards the exit elevator. Making sure that his package would not crack, he placed it in his bill gently so that he could enter into the house unnoticed.

* * *

><p>"He's okay! He's okay!" Phineas kept shouting as he led Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford into his garage later that evening.<p>

"That's all you said in the text message, too, Phineas," Baljeet stopped him. "Can you, maybe, elaborate?"

"Guys! I found Ferb!"

"Really? That's great!" Isabella cheered as she tried to glance to the left and right of Phineas, and then behind him. "…Is he upstairs?"

"No…" Phineas answered as he looked about the room. "Uhh… he's… right there."

Phineas had pointed in a random direction to the corner of the garage. Ferb, who was standing about sixty degrees to the left of Phineas' pointing finger, moved around some scattered boxes. "Not quite, Phineas," he said as he attempted to reach the place where Phineas had gestured.

"Umm, or maybe he's over there?" Phineas said as he changed his direction to the clear other side of the room, a look of perplexity crossing his face.

"Nope, try again," Ferb replied.

Moving his pointing finger to his chin, Phineas scanned the room. "I think he's here…"

"Are you saying that you found his ghost?" Buford put out.

"He's not a ghost," Phineas stated. He then removed his finger in revelation. "But that does give me an idea! Ferb, if you're here somewhere, try slamming the door or something!"

"Yes! Good plan, Phineas," Ferb agreed, making his way to the open door that lead into the house. He put both hands on its edge, and with a strain of his muscles that made the joints of his fingers red, pulled with all his strength. The door remained stationary.

"Huh, this thing is really heavy," he said as he tried to move it with his back against the flat surface.

"Ferb?" Phineas questioned when he heard no sound. "Are you there?"

"Yeah, but this thing won't budge."

The three others were looking at the door, and around the room. "Is something supposed to be happening?" Buford asked.

"I thought he was here…."

"I am. Just give me a sec while I try to get this unstuck." Ferb now had his shoulder pushing against the thick grey door.

"Phineas…" Isabella said sweetly as she came up and set her hand on her friend's arm. "We know that you miss him. And we know that you have a good imagination… but… just wishing that he is here won't bring him back."

Ferb grunted. "I think this thing is made of solid iron or something…."

"I know, Isabella… but I know that he's in this room."

"I think… I think that you should consider telling your parents what happened on Sunday night," Isabella said as she looked into his eyes with the most consoling and caring look. "They will have to know eventually."

"Wait, guys! It must be stuck on the floor mat," Ferb called out, but the three others were already partially out the door.

Baljeet turned around. "Sorry, Phineas, but we all have tests in the morning."

"Ghosts are freaky business, man…" Buford retorted, as Isabella hung back for a second.

"I'll… see you tomorrow in school," she said, before she left with one last sentence. "I'm sorry, Phineas."

Ferb sighed loudly and gave up on his attempts, sliding down the door to sit on the concrete floor.

Phineas sat onto the large ice freezer, and unknowingly echoed Ferb's sigh.

"I don't know if you're there or not," he said into the still, bitter air. "But… I'm getting kind of lonely."

Ferb looked up from his place on the floor, to see Phineas sitting with his head in his hands as he let his legs dangle off the white freezer. Pushing himself up, Ferb came over and hopped up beside his brother.

"I know how you feel, Phin," he said, first looking with sympathy at the unresponsive Phineas, and then moving his gaze forward to copy the same distant stare. "Being a ghost can be lonely, too."

* * *

><p>((I apologize for tiny chapter :( Chapter 8 is over 3x as long as Chapter 7, hehe))<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As they sat without speaking in the quiet, cold garage, Phineas had just stuck his head in his chin and stared at the blank floor. Ferb wanted more than anything to reassure Phineas of his presence, and lifted his arm in a well-debated plan to place it on Phineas' shoulders. However, before he could do so, Phineas had stood up a bit and was interestingly peering into a shadow beneath one of the garage racks.

Looking to the same spot, Ferb also saw the slight rustle of movement that had caught his brother's eye.

A blue mass of short fur came pattering out from the dark space. Phineas smiled at him. "Oh, there you are, Perry."

"Grrfhrrfhrr," Perry said, muffled by a glinting object in his mouth.

Getting off the freezer, Phineas reached down to pick up the platypus from under its arms. He turned him around as he examined the little plastic item.

Perry spat it out, letting it drop to the ground and roll a few feet on the concrete. Phineas bent down to release Perry in exchange for picking up the object.

Ferb leaned from his spot on the fridge to get a better look at it as Phineas brushed it off.

"Where'd you find this, boy?" Phineas asked as he spun the little clear thing. It looked somewhat like a medical syringe, but it had no needle at the end. Inside was a small glowing gel materiel that was formed into a ball. On the end of the transparent cylinder was a little sliver button that looked as though it may connect to another part.

"I wonder what this does…" Phineas whispered to himself as he ran his fingers along the button. Though he was handling it gently, the sensitive switch reacted to Phineas' thumb and pressed down.

The little orange pill shot out of the bottom of the tube at roughly the speed as a paintball, startling Phineas and causing him to throw the object away to the ground. The projectile proceeded to bounce off of every wall and shelf of the garage, including one nasty hit to Ferb's chest. It then ricocheted up before finally shattering the garage's single light bulb with a sharp _pop_.

"D'aaahhhh," Ferb moaned as he placed a hand on his lower stomach on the spot where the ball had impacted. He lightly lifted up his shirt and saw that it was nothing more than a red area, but he kept his hand on it nonetheless.

He exhaled, and looked up and Phineas. "That may leave a mark tomorrow…."

But to Ferb's surprise, Phineas was not looking at the discarded object on the floor, but had faced towards the freezer and now looked as though he had just literally jumped right out of his shoes. He was looking back and forth all along the freezer with wide-eyed disbelief.

He took a gulp. "_Ferb,_ I can hear you!"

All thought of the pain in his side disappeared, and Ferb shot his gaze up at his brother. "Wait… you can?"

"Yes!" Phineas happily shouted.

"Oh Phineas, you don't know how much I've been wanting to hear you say that."

"I think I do: about as much as I've been wanting to hear your voice at all_," _Phineas agreed as he continued to search the room. "Where are you?"

"I'm laying… on top of the freezer," Ferb replied between breaths as he tried to push up to a sitting position.

"…Why are you _laying_ on the freezer?" Phineas asked seriously, moving towards the sound of Ferb's words.

"That thing hurt!" was his reply as Phineas approached.

Pulling out a finger, Phineas reached over to the air and poked forward.

"Woah!" he said in reaction, returning to poke Ferb's side again. "Were you here the whole time? How come you didn't close the door?"

"Go try to close it," Ferb instructed, rubbing the spot where Phineas' had poked.

"Why do you want _me _to close it?" Phineas asked, but he was already making his way over and did not object. Placing his hands on it, he pushed hard. Nothing happened.

"Hey, yeah," came the reply, as Phineas bent down to the floor. "The foot mat is all bunched up under it. And I never noticed but this thing is like two inches thick."

Ferb laughed. "You just had to ask me to slam the heaviest door in the house."

Phineas returned the laugh, but when he turned around to face the unoccupied room, his smile faded and his eyes darted around again. "Uhh, are you still on the freezer?"

"Yep."

"Okay, good." Phineas then went over to the large white icebox and stood beside it.

Standing still, Phineas just surveyed the plain white fridge. The only light in the room was coming through the bottom of the large garage door, and in the darkness Phineas suddenly felt a rush of loneliness again. After a few seconds of the silence, Phineas grew finicky.

"Why did you stop talking?" he asked, directing his question generally into the air. "I don't know you're still there if you're not talking. So don't stop talking, keep saying stuff!"

"Okay…" came the unseen voice. "Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup."

Phineas stood in place and did not respond for a moment. "Uhhhh…. What?"

"You told me to say 'stuff.' That counts as 'stuff,' doesn't it?"

Phineas just grinned widely and hopped up the edge of the freezer. "Okay, so I can hear you," he said, pantomiming a curved hand around his ear.

"And I can… feel you." Phineas continued to poke Ferb in the side. "… The only thing I can't do is _see_ you."

Phineas felt Ferb's hand brush his finger away.

"You can keep poking me, if you want," he said honestly. "But can you not keep doing it in the same spot? It's starting to get raw there."

Phineas tipped his nose down and gave a bashful smile. "…Sorry." He then jumped down and returned to the floor of the garage.

"But I can't think straight in this darkness," he said as he looked up at the shattered remnants of what had been a lamp. "Ima go get a new light bulb. You, um… stay here. So I can find you."

Ferb also leaned off of the freezer to land on the floor. "I'll be here," he said as Phineas trotted up to the door that led to the house.

Moving forward, Ferb stopped underneath the broken garage light. As he stared straight up, he could see that the old bulb had completely cracked and a few pieces had entirely fallen off, leaving the filament exposed.

Ferb could hear a soft shuffling coming from the nearby hall closet, and came over to stand by the door as he watched Phineas come back into the garage, holding a clear new bulb. He stopped when he had cleared the door's threshold.

"I think I found the right one-" Phineas looked up from his hands at the dark, empty room. "Okay, where'd you go?"

Ferb was standing about a foot from Phineas' head. "I'm right here, Phi-"

"AH!" Phineas leapt backwards and almost dropped the fragile glass in the process. He held onto his chest as he breathed, realizing that Ferb was not where he had expected him to be. "You scared me!"

"Whoops," Ferb apologized with sincerity. But Phineas did not linger over it and regained himself in no time, going over to look at the ceiling lamp.

"Though I'm not sure how I'm going to get up there…" he said as he examined it.

"Here," Ferb said as he came over to him. "Want me to give you a boost?"

Phineas looked down and stared in confusion at where he thought Ferb was. "Um… _can_ you do that?"

Ferb shrugged as he tipped his gaze upwards. "…Probably?"

He bent down beneath the targeted light socket and linked his fingers to make a step. "Okay, I'm kneeling in front of you."

Phineas hesitantly lifted his foot, and Ferb grabbed it in his fingers. Phineas shut his eyes and leaned onto him as Ferb got to his feet and slowly raised Phineas to the ceiling. Blinking his eyes open, Phineas saw that he was within reach of the blown bulb.

"Can you reach it?" Ferb asked.

"Yeah, this is good," Phineas returned, glancing down to address Ferb. However, Phineas then caught a glimpse of the nothingness that was supporting him and he suddenly could not stop himself from wobbling shakily.

"F-F-Ferb," he said with a yelp as he buckled down and clutched both arms tightly around his brother's neck. "This is _really weird._ Maybe I should just go get a ladder."

"Just don't look down," Ferb reassured. "I've got you."

"Okay…" Phineas agreed quietly, pushing back up with one hand to unscrew the sharp end of the exploded light. When it was free, he dropped it to the ground, and reached up to install the new one.

After the last twist on the screw's threads, the coils inside flickered and illuminated the garage with fresh brightness. A moment passed by until Phineas' face was overtaken by revelation and he flung his hand up to throw it onto Ferb's shoulder.

"I've got it!"

Ferb tried to keep his hands under Phineas' foot as he tried to compensate for his sudden movement. But the off-balance teetering outweighed Ferb's attempts, and soon both of them had fallen to either sides of the garage, landing in a loud heap of boxes.

Ferb pushed his head up. "You got what…?"

"IT!" Phineas replied, standing up and brushing off as if nothing had happened. "Remember our hand-held laundry cleanup machine from last month?"

"Hah, yeah I remember that thing," Ferb laughed from his place among the brown cardboard.

"Remember how for a while it just made the laundry disappear instead of cleaning it up?"

"Yeah…" Ferb said thoughtfully. "We changed it to a teleportation program panel and then it worked fine."

"SO!" Phineas exclaimed. "I'll go get the old invisibility program panel, cross the input/output wires, and then hit you with it in reverse!"

"Wow... That actually," Ferb paused as he took a second to think while he got up. "That actually may work."

Phineas was already sticking his hands all around the racks of the garage. "Where did we put it?"

"Last month's box is over here."

"Yeah, but we put it in scraps," Phineas continued with his hands far back behind several crates. "Wait, I think I... I think I grabbed it."

Phineas stretched farther until he had his whole grip, then drew out what he thought he found. He looked at it in the bright light, and saw that it was a flat green circuit board with wires, electrical pads and a little metal shaft sticking out of one side.

"Here it is!" Phineas revealed. He pulled it up to his face and squinted at each little weaving of copper and gold that was intricately designed into the panel. "Output lies on the vertical array... And input is along horizontal..."

Phineas had delicately pinched one of the wires and pulled it carefully off of its fasteners. He did the same with a second wire, pulling it overtop of the first and twisting the two shimmery brown lines around each other.

The circuit itself had a toggle latch that was made to form a break in the system. It sat open now, and Phineas placed his forefinger onto it, ready to close it and finish the pathway. Straightening his arms out in front of himself, Phineas held the panel so that the small metal shaft faced forward, much like a handgun at a shooting range.

"Okay," Phineas finally said. "I'm gonna hold it here, and you go stand in front of it."

There was a sound of footsteps as Ferb kicked the boxes out of the way. "Fire," he permitted.

Ferb closed his eyes as he braced himself. Phineas slowly let his finger loose on the toggle switch, and the shaft charged up. A bolt of what almost could have been lightning formed on it and burst out to the edges of the room.

Then silence followed. Ferb held his arms tense at his sides as he blinked his nervous eyes. He turned towards Phineas, and their gazes immediately locked. A surprised anticipation crossed over Ferb, and he lifted a finger to point questioningly at himself.

Dropping the device uncaringly to the floor, Phineas held his hands at the ready like he did not know what to do with them. "It's... It's you! You're right there!" Then Phineas grew concerned, and stretched his entire arm out to point directly at Ferb's head.

"But, FERB! You said that you weren't hurt!" Phineas was focused on an area of Ferb's face. "What in the world happened to your face?"

"Why? What does it look like?" he asked, hearing the disturbed undertone. He found a glass mirror that was sitting on one of the nearby shelves, and glanced into it.

He was quite startled by what he saw, but smirked as he understood. The entire patch of skin around his right eye had turned an unnatural shade of black, and there was a small scab over his lip.

"OH! That," he said as he examined the damage. " _'Isabella with a two-by-four' _happened."

Phineas struggled not to choke on a giggle. "Well, she was only trying to protect me," he said through a big smile.

"Yeah," Ferb said sarcastically as he placed the mirror back on the shelf. "From the ghost that was trying to eat you."

"The ghost..." Phineas whispered distractedly. But Ferb purposefully interrupted him.

"So. Muted and invisible. Not a good combo."

Phineas looked at his brother and gave him a new smile that this time looked like it had to press its way to the surface. It did, however, grow the longer it was on his face.

"I'm just glad that was _all_ it was."

Ferb came over and gave him a warm hug around the shoulders with one arm. "Same here, Phineas. Definitely same here."

"Phineas!" came a voice from inside the house. "What are you doing out there? Dinner is almost ready!"

"Coming, Mom!" Phineas called out, clutching Ferb by the arm and dragging him along as they ran through the door.

They came into the kitchen where their father was already at the table, starting on his salad.

"Oh, hello boys," he greeted as he looked up. "Ferb, I didn't know you were back already. Did you have fun?"

"Did I have...fun...?" Ferb answered with a confused expression and tone. An elbow was suddenly shoved into his stomach.

Phineas quickly shushed him and spoke from behind his hand. "You went on the field trip with Mr. Schneider's class."

Ferb leaned over and whispered into Phineas' ear. "...I did?"

"Yes, yes you did. Say something, cause Dad's staring at us."

"Ooohhh... Yeah I had lots of fun, but they had to send me home a bit early," Ferb gestured to his injured eye. "I sort of clobbered myself while walking into a pole."

"Gotta watch out for those things," their dad replied. "They can come out of nowhere."

"Oh, honey," their mom said as she came over and hugged him. "We'll have to take you to the doctor tomorrow."

"I'm okay, Mom," he answered with assurance.

"Well a good meal will make you feel better. I made meatloaf for all of us."

"Yummmm," Phineas and Ferb both hummed as they sat down before their plates.

* * *

><p>Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford were congregated around their lockers, each placing and organizing their respective books for that morning's class.<p>

Isabella pressed her art textbook across her chest. "Oh, I hope I wasn't too hard on Phineas last night," she sighed. "But I wonder if he really did listen and told his parents about what happened."

"I don't know," Buford said with indifference. "Phineas has been really off lately."

"He just misses Ferb," Baljeet explained, then stopped for a moment. "But I miss him too."

"Yeah..." Isabella said with thought. "Nothing is the same without him around. Study hall isn't the same... Visiting the Flynn-Fletcher house isn't the same..."

She held onto her books tighter. "...Phineas isn't the same..."

Baljeet was about to agree, when he yelped a bit and stared over Isabella's shoulder.

"What's wrong, Baljeet? You look like you've seen a- Wait..." Isabella spun around to see where Baljeet was staring, her hair flying in a circle at the speed of her movement.

Walking in through the school's glass doors, wearing a huge smile on his face, was Phineas. Coming in closely behind him, was the green-haired, also smiling, face of _Ferb_. He saw them and was waving welcomingly.

"Is that...?" Baljeet started, but was interrupted by Phineas running up to them.

"Hi guys!" he said energetically. But his greeting almost went unnoticed, as everyone had their focus on the almost unreal person standing next to him.

Buford had the widest eyes. "Are you… a zombie?"

"Am I a zombie? What kind of a question is that, Buford?" Ferb replied, pestering him with a happy and amused smirk.

"But he's right!" Isabella exclaimed frantically. "Look at your eye! Where _were_ you that you got hurt so bad?"

Ferb just continued his smiling and replied lightheartedly, "Next time you are fighting off ghosts, try not to use a huge plank of wood."

Isabella's hands immediately shot up to her mouth as she gasped with terrified guilt. "Oh my _gosh_, Ferb, that was you? I am SOOO soooo sorry! Does it still hurt?"

Ferb waved his hand dismissively. "Na, it'll heal. And I know you didn't mean it."

"But if I had known it was you I would've never-! I wasn't thinking…. Something had hold of Phineas… and there was fire… and I panicked and thought of the first thing I could…."

Isabella was still apologizing when the five minute school bell rang throughout the hall. Phineas grabbed his own physics book and tossed Ferb's into his hands.

"C'mon, Ferb, we're gonna be late!" he said as he grabbed both his and Ferb's bags and held them in his arms as an oversized bundle. "And I think Professor Dreyman wants to nominate you for an award or something."

Ferb nodded, and with a last merry wave to his friends, followed his brother down the hall to their first period of the day.

* * *

><p><strong>Liked this story? Don't forget to post a Review!<strong>

**All My PnF Fanfics:**

**PnF: Timeloops**

**PnF: Ghosts (Viewing)**

**PnF: Stolen Identity**

**PnF: Stuck Like Brothers**

**PnF: Mind Trapped **

**PnF: Species is a Constant**

**PnF: Lifeleap (Currently Posting)**


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